


Of Endless Summer

by jimmytiberius



Category: Baseball RPF, The Sandman (Comics)
Genre: Gen, Washington Nationals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-29
Updated: 2016-06-29
Packaged: 2018-07-18 22:31:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7333279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jimmytiberius/pseuds/jimmytiberius
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Baseball, more than anything, is built on dreams.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Endless Summer

**Author's Note:**

> This is a snippet inspired by the gorgeous Sandman-baseball piece [sophiahelix](http://archiveofourown.org/users/sophiahelix/pseuds/sophiahelix) wrote for Yuletide 2015. I am planning to go somewhere with it, but maybe not for a while, so I thought I'd post this intro bit as motivation for myself to write the rest of it.

Baseball, more than anything, is built on dreams. No team knows that as well as the Washington Nationals.

The Nationals have never won a playoff series. They’re too young for many grudges, too young for much resentment (although some people always manage, anyway). Their devotees are not like the Cubs fans or the old cursed Red Sox fans, years building on years of unrewarded faith. The Nationals are young, and all they have is possibility.

And what grows out of possibility, but dreams?

Not very far from the bright lights of Las Vegas, a teenage boy named Bryce Harper has already been crowned the next hero of baseball, the second coming of every legendary star the sport has ever seen. He dreams of bright lights and of living up to expectations, of trophies and well-earned praise, of thousands of people screaming his name.

Bryce dreams.

In Washington, D.C., Drew Storen dreams of fresh starts in cities where no one knows his face or his name, where he can leave his story behind. He dreams about finally getting that thirtieth save, of perfect ninth innings, of clean playoff games.

Drew dreams.

On cold Syracuse nights, Danny Espinosa dreams about playing at Nationals Park again, of blistering heat and high stakes. In his dreams he always finds his way back there, one swing to win the game, one play to save the no-hitter.

Danny dreams.

In Manchester, New Hampshire, twenty-seven-year-old Clint Robinson plays for the double-A Fisher Cats and wonders if his chance has already passed him by. His dreams mostly involve laughing children and building a good (if average) life in Arkansas, but occasionally he sees flickers of something bigger, of hitting a home run that makes forty thousand fans demand a curtain call.

Clint dreams.

The night before the first game of his first World Series, Tyler Clippard lies awake in New York. He sees it all in his mind, the fans and the stress and the joy and the heartbreak. But in his sleep his teammates all look different, and they’re wearing red, and they win.

Tyler dreams.

The sling on his arm keeps him tossing and turning, but eventually, the painkillers from his surgery pull Lucas Giolito under the surface. Names on cards spin through the air, some landing neatly in slots on a board, some shattering on the floor. He cannot find his name.

Lucas dreams.

In Chesterfield, Missouri, a boy named Max Scherzer sees the world through mismatched eyes. He dreams of strikeouts on strikeouts on strikeouts, tapping leather seams with calloused fingers and laughing at the world.

Max dreams.

Every one of them dreams of the crack of the bat, of the songs the umpires sing and the swirling motions of the pitchers’ windups, and of endless summer.

The Nationals dream.

Despair, who has never really forgotten the Washington Senators, watches them.


End file.
